


Ascension

by Soraya (soraya2004), soraya2004



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Book/Movie Fusion, First Time, M/M, Minor Character Death, Sith, Sith Academy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-01
Updated: 2008-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-14 19:34:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/152713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soraya2004/pseuds/Soraya, https://archiveofourown.org/users/soraya2004/pseuds/soraya2004
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, it takes Two to ascend</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The universe in which this fic is set borrows elements of the Star Wars lore (see the information contained in the additional notes at the end). The characters portrayed here are, by their nature, dark. Whilst there are mentions of minor character deaths, this isn't a death fic.

  
**Part One**

"Two there should be, no more and no less:  
One to embody the power, the other to crave it."

'The Rule of Two' by the Sith Lord Darth Bane  
Taken from the Star Wars novel 'Darth Bane: Path of Destruction' by Drew Karpyshyn

  
\---

Only Two there are: a Master and an Apprentice.  
It is the Sith way and our greatest strength,  
For true power cannot be shared among the many,  
And true power may only be wielded by the few.

Yet in this strength also lies our greatest folly  
And the reason why the Sith have always failed.  
For until the Two become more, the scourge of Light  
Shall continue to tarnish the purity of our Darkness.

An excerpt from 'The Ascension Prophecies'  
by the Learned Lord Revenant

***

His earliest memories were of the crche. Like all potentials, he was cut from his mother's womb with only her dying screams to guide him into the waiting hands of the Brotherhood: they, who became the architects of his growth from that point forward. The questions he put to them were the natural curiosities of any child: who was he, where was he from, and why was he here? The answers from the Learneds were more cryptic than revealing: his name was J'hon; he was a potential; and like the other Acolytes before him, he existed purely to ascend.

They told him that his birth mother was a carrier shell: a _nothing_ and nothing to concern himself about. Then, after he'd pressed them for more, they took him to the training salle where they beat him until he understood never to question again and until the earth beneath him was red with his life's blood.

On that day, J'hon drew that blanketing feeling of hatred around him and he covered his heart with it, letting it strengthen him from the inside out. Its darkness sustained him through the shattering of bone, and it was there for him singing soothing melodies of revenge when the only carers he knew left him broken on the ground to find his own way home.

***

It took him almost a day to crawl back to his cot, several more to heal the wounds gained by such navet. But when he was finally strong enough, J'hon killed two lords of learning, one for each of the legs they'd broken. He left their mutilated bodies hanging from the arches to the Temple of Ages, and once word of the assassinations had spread through the Academy, he rushed out with the rest of the Acolytes to admire the beauty of the carnage he'd wrought.

Little did he know that this simple act of vengeance would herald a new dawn of dissent among the Sith. Or that those of their brethren, who longed for a return to the old ways, would set ancient schemes in motion while the rest of the Council argued over who was responsible and what was the motive.

There, standing in the shade of those severed limbs, J'hon was just one of many gazing up at the Learneds, dreaming of a time when he would raze them all to dust and build a new order on the bones of their deceit.

***

The way of the crche was one of alliances not friendships. From the earliest cycles of life, Acolytes were taught that all relationships were the product of strategy, so that even the youngest were adept at weighing the usefulness of those around them. J'hon took those lessons with him into his Path of Apprenticeship at the Academy.

Under the guidance of his blademasters, he continued to excel in the field of aerials and stealth tactics, honing himself into a warrior with few equals among his peers. Where he surpassed them all, however, was in sheer cunning, of which he had enough to know that any goal of True Ascension would require more than just the dark arts of politics and combat.

It was this foresight that led him to train in secret under the Dark Master Niele, and it was Master Niele, who first showed him the most forbidden of all the ancient texts.

***

The reason J'hon chose Niele was that Niele was a survivor from the final Purges of Unification. A mere foundling at the time, those brethren, who had over-run his sect, had deemed him a potential worthy of rehabilitation. Which was how he and others like him survived into adulthood, and how those of arcane doctrine came to occupy positions of influence throughout the Order. Niele's views on secular training, while radical, weren't considered a threat to the natural order of things. But perhaps where Niele was most dangerous, and where the Brotherhood neglected to quell his dissent, was in his tenet that _in order to understand the future, first one had to study the past_.

Gradually and with considerable encouragement from this Dark Master, J'hon began to question the efficacy of the Council. With Niele for a tutor, he reviewed the Code in its original forms, studying the teachings of such Learned Lords as Ektorian Gore and Nol Revenant. What lay there was a revelation to a mind starving for answers, and only through promises of more was Niele able to secure service to his cause.

Theirs became an alliance of mutual use. Niele provided him with clues to his origins and to the origins of the Sith; in return, he identified those that might be swayed from among the lower ranks. Yet in the same way that the Brotherhood had overlooked one of their own, so too did he encourage Niele to underestimate him. He never let Niele see past the easy darkness of his exterior to the convert's zeal beneath. For where Niele was a master of understatement, _he_ was even more adept in the shielding of his innermost thoughts.

In their many conversations, only once did he allude to the possibility of sedition. "This doesn't make any sense," he said one evening after skimming through the latest Dark Edict from the Council.

"Ah, yes, the eternal dichotomy of our struggle!" Niele shrugged, keeping his eyes fixed on their Sabacc game. "You know, you would think by now they would have figured out that Kaan's philosophy of 'Rule by the Strong' conflicts with Bane's 'Rule of Two'."

"Yeah! Of course, since neither one ended in True Ascension, _their_ idea is for us to try both at the same time!"

"Clever, huh?"

J'hon answered _that_ with a grunt. That said, this new series of edicts left him seething with frustration. Because after several cycles reading the forbidden texts, he could almost _see_ the parallels between ancient prophecy and the direction in which the Order was heading. What disturbed him most were the koans of Revenant, which seemed to suggest that Light would prevail if they couldn't harness the Dark side effectively.

"Do they even have a plan?" he asked a few minutes later, trying to make it seem like an afterthought. "The failures of the First Republic show that our current _strength in numbers_ will probably end in us destroying ourselves. The Second only proves that power in the hands of Two leads to longer rule, but _there_ the Two would be vulnerable to a well-placed attack. How are they going to use this to destroy the Light once and for all?"

Niele just shrugged his shoulders. "My guess is it'll probably be something with a bang," he said lightly, though his eyes were down the whole time.

Which J'hon knew was a stalling tactic of Niele's when he'd either run out of answers or when he was holding something back.

"Anyway," Niele went on. "I'm sure the Council will send more edicts once they're ready."

J'hon responded with the wry smile that was expected of him, and he let the topic drop even though he was far from satisfied. In his heart, he was convinced now that the corruption of Sith ideals perpetrated by the Brotherhood would lead to all their downfalls.

This belief ultimately led him to rebel in subtle ways against the edicts of the Council. And because he hated the idea of being destined to lose, he also started searching for ways to change the future in his favour.

***

It wasn't until the eve of his ascent into adulthood that ancient schemes set in motion began to gather pace.

The first rumblings of change came with the Council's struggle to marry the opposing philosophies of Bane and Kaan. Like any marriage, it had its share of challenges. But perhaps sensing the tendrils of a new breed of unrest within the Order, the Brotherhood sought to curb any budding signs of rebellion before they could take root. New alliances were forged; vanities were pandered to with the award of spurious titles and promotions; and those, who could not accept these reforms were quietly lost in space.

Out of the culling rose a newer, more traditional breed of Dark Lord. Some, like the newly promoted Niele, were no longer content to consolidate power from the shadows. They stepped to the fore, taking their followers with them; and since one of Niele's first acts as a Dark Lord was to formalize their affiliation, J'hon rose to the rank of _Apprentice to a Dark Lord_ with minimal intrigue on his part.

When he entered his final cycles at the Academy, in line with this new status, the Brotherhood assigned a young Acolyte to serve him as technosage. This wasn't unusual by any means, since potentials often worked alongside members of the Sages Guild. Only, his master had been watching the Guild for some time. So his master saw to it that the Brotherhood's original choice of Kavan Agh got spaced on the way to the Academy.

In the end, J'hon got paired with the young M'Ro'dneeth Kay: arguably the most gifted of all the technosages the Guild had to offer.

***

In the way of all true Sith bonds, it was hate at first sight.

J'hon's initial impression was that M'Ro'dneeth Kay was one of those mouthy, opinionated, lab soft technosages, who had clearly never seen the inside of a training salle. After M'Ro'dneeth kicked things off by announcing: "You should probably call me _Ro'dnee_ if you _ever_ expect me to answer you," he then proceeded to lay two data pads down on his assigned work-station, saying, "These are sensitive, so do not touch them," very slowly and very loudly. As though no one else on the planet spoke Galactic Standard!

Now, watching the way he stomped around the trainee labs, criticizing everything in sight, J'hon could barely control the urge to strangle him. "You don't look much like a Sith," he said once Ro'dnee finally stopped for breath.

" _Excuse me_?"

"You know exactly what I mean," J'hon told him, sensing he was on to something here. And when Ro'dnee made another one of those outraged sounds, he notched _that_ insult down as one to use again and again. Obviously, the topic of appearance was a very sore point. Hell, even a blind Ruusanian bat could see that Ro'dnee was cursed with the golden hair and blue eyes, which so favoured the Light-siders. "I'm just amazed the Brotherhood didn't space you at birth for looking the way you do," J'hon sneered, thinking he would take care of that oversight soon.

Ro'dnee promptly responded with a sneer of his own. "Well, we can't all be classically dark like you," he muttered, sounding very resentful about it. "Anyway, my hair will get darker the older and stronger I get. That's quite common, or so I'm told."

"Really?" J'hon drawled.

"Yes, really," Ro'dnee snapped at him, practically huffing with irritation. "Have you even _heard_ of the Acolyte Mantha Cart?"

At which point J'hon made an irritated sound of his own.

"She has a colouring very similar to mine," Ro'dnee went on, even though he clearly wasn't interested in listening to any stories about Ro'dnee's past or his great alliances. "I can't believe you've never heard of her; everyone has," Ro'dnee told him, his face going soft and dreamy all of a sudden. "She's possibly the greatest Acolyte in the whole galaxy!"

J'hon raised an eyebrow.

Which made Ro'dnee back-track very quickly with: "Well, apart from _me_ of course!" And before J'hon could come up with a reply to _that_ , Ro'dnee added: "But she's incredibly cunning, brilliant actually. I wanted to work with her, you know. Together we would have made a formidable alliance. Only, somehow I got stuck with _you_ instead."

J'hon gave Ro'dnee a menacing look. Which Ro'dnee didn't seem to notice, because Ro'dnee was suddenly very busy staring at _him_ accusingly.

"You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

" _No_ ," J'hon answered in as bored a tone as he could dredge up.

"Oh!" Ro'dnee's shoulders slumped. "I mean, it's just—" and then Ro'dnee sighed, looking incredibly disappointed. "I've been trying to find a way to change my assignment, but it doesn't look like there _is_ one."

J'hon chose to stick with the _bored_ theme from there on. "That's too bad, huh," he murmured, adding a mild shrug for effect. Inside, though, he was seething with rage. He couldn't believe this Light-spawn _*nobody*_ thought that _he_ was the one having to settle for second best because someone else had more potential than _him_ —an Apprentice to a Dark Lord! It took every ounce of control he had to hide the anger behind his usual mask of indifference. "So," he said, his voice only marginally harsher. "Are we going to spend all day talking about hair?"

"Of course not!" Ro'dnee grimaced. "Here, you can use this in your _Infiltrator_!" And, still grimacing, Ro'dnee took what looked like a standard data crystal out of his pocket and then floated it over to him. "It's a star-nav system," Ro'dnee explained when he just stared at it blankly. "It's calibrated for all the star charts in the sector, and it will automatically chart any new systems you travel to."

"You're kidding!" J'hon plucked the crystal out of the air so he could take a closer look at it. "This thing is capable of auto-charting?"

Ro'dnee perked up considerably. "Please, this is only the basic model," he said, waving his hand in what J'hon assumed was a sign that there was more to come. "I'm working on a way to add long range scanners, so you can use it to track other ships in the system."

"Cool," J'hon admitted, impressed in spite of himself.

"Yes, yes, 'cool' is what I do," Ro'dnee told him, puffing his chest out a little.

From that gesture, J'hon worked out that Ro'dnee's true weakness was his pride. He decided to exploit it, starting off by asking questions about the star-nav crystal, which, of course, Ro'dnee was very happy to answer _at length_ , before moving on to Ro'dnee's other inventions then onto his life at the Sages Guild. And, as Ro'dnee talked and talked about himself, J'hon watched and listened, learning and plotting and making plans of his own.

***

A few days later, news started filtering through the Academy that the Acolyte Mantha Cart had been destroyed in a freak plasma explosion, which had vaporized her to the atomic level. Since there was no discernible link between J'hon and Mantha Cart, or indeed between their respective masters, J'hon remained entirely free from suspicion. Which meant he was free to arrange a number of additional seemingly random unexplained accidents for Mantha Cart's master, her technosage, her healer and her favoured sparring partner.

When he attempted to destroy _Ro'dnee_ , however, things didn't go quite as smoothly.

He set the trap in Ro'dnee's lab, where the carefully timed data pad malfunction was supposed to set off an explosive charge, which was then supposed to vaporize everything in sight, Ro'dnee included. Instead of doing that, the explosion swept Ro'dnee off his feet, carried him back and then slammed him into the wall behind, bringing a hail of debris down around him.

Fortunately for J'hon, he'd decided to lurk in the shadows to watch the action. He didn't normally do that as part of the job. Only, somewhere along the way, destroying Ro'dnee had become a personal thing, and he'd wanted to witness Ro'dnee's final moments live and up close. So, when this particular 'accident' failed to deliver the expected results, he was there to rectify _that_ at once, leaping over to Ro'dnee and bringing his sabre down in the perfect strike to sever head from shoulders.

Only his sabre stopped harmlessly inches from Ro'dnee's throat.

It took him a moment to figure out that there was some sort of _barrier_ in the way. An energy field, which seemed to cover Ro'dnee from head to toe and which threw up a flurry of green sparks whenever his sabre slammed against it. Still he kept pushing, baring his teeth from the strain, trying to strike that killing blow while Ro'dnee just sat there staring up at him, looking almost bewildered by what was going on. Until Ro'dnee apparently caught up as well and then started trying to scramble away from him, wide-eyed and reeking of terror.

"Whoa, not so fast," J'hon growled, reaching out this time with his hand, trying to grab Ro'dnee by the throat.

Except that field got in the way again, and _this_ time the energy sparking off its surface hit _him_ directly.

"Son of a bitch!" Pulling back at once, J'hon had to shake his fingers to get the numbness out of them. Ro'dnee was still half on his back, still trying to scramble away. So J'hon stepped between Ro'dnee and the door, effectively blocking the only escape route, leaving Ro'dnee with no other option but to crawl to the corner and sit there with his hands up, literally cowering for his life.

"Okay, tell me how the hell you're doing that," J'hon demanded, stalking over and shoving his sabre right in Ro'dnee's face. At which point Ro'dnee just sort of opened and closed his mouth, apparently lost for words. "Come on, Ro'dnee," J'hon sneered, tapping him lightly on the head with it. "Spit it out; I haven't got all day!"

Eventually, Ro'dnee managed to stutter: "I—It's my p-personal shield," looking like even that had taken a lot of nerve. "I built it myself. Because, you know, you can never have too much protection. And this is a new planet for me, with a new lab and new people, so I've been wearing it just in case."

"Huh!" J'hon nodded, vaguely impressed all over again. "Good call, by the way!"

" _You think_?" Ro'dnee screamed at him.

Just for that, J'hon took another swing at Ro'dnee's head. The frankly terrified expression on Ro'dnee's face when he did that made him feel a bit better, even though it didn't get him quite the result he wanted. As expected, the shield threw up another flurry of sparks, leaving Ro'dnee safe underneath it.

Not entirely sure what to do next, J'hon powered down his sabre. Then, once the full enormity of the situation hit, he backed up a little, giving himself some room to breathe. He'd never been in this kind of position before: coming face to face with a target and not being able to finish the job.

It was weird, embarrassing even.

Not that Ro'dnee seemed to care, deep as he was in his own personal crisis of: "Look, you don't have to do this! I'm an outstanding technosage, the best in the Order. Really, ask anyone; they'll tell you!" But the strangest thing was that while Ro'dnee kept babbling on and on at him, Ro'dnee also kept giving him these _betrayed_ looks, like his feelings were hurt or something.

It all made him extremely uncomfortable.

In the end, because he just had to get out there, J'hon forced himself to accept that somehow he'd lost this round. Still he wasn't the type to leave without a show of strength. So he smiled with as much menace as he could and he whispered, "Catch you later, Ro'dnee," before striding out of the lab, pretty confident at the very least that he'd left Ro'dnee suitably cowed on the floor behind him.

***

The problem with failure, J'hon discovered, after so many cycles of _not_ failing, was that it shook the foundations of his confidence and left him feeling confused, depressed and a little concerned.

He wasn't sure what bothered him the most: that he'd lost his once spotless record of assassinations, or that he'd lost it to a _technosage_ after successfully managing to destroy Learneds, Dark Lords and Light-side masters during his career. On the way back to his quarters, he spent a lot of time thinking about that, reviewing where he'd gone wrong and how this had happened in the first place. And by the time he'd reached his door, he'd also started thinking about what this was going to mean for him and his future as a potential in the Order.

The problem with failure, J'hon realized, was that it highlighted weakness of character and weakness of form, and there was no place for any kind of weakness among the Sith. As uncomfortable as it was to admit, he was making mistakes. Somewhere along the way, he'd grown complacent, it seemed, perhaps even lazy, so used to the high of success that he was expecting to achieve it with no effort at all.

His biggest mistake was that he'd underestimated Ro'dnee. And really he of all people should have known better. After all, his array of kills was more or less a guide to everyone, who had underestimated _him_. But he'd allowed Ro'dnee's battle-soft exterior to blind him to the cunning mind, which lay beneath, and he'd failed to treat Ro'dnee's ambush with the respect it deserved.

He swore never to make that kind of mistake again.

***

As luck would have it, when J'hon opened his door, he noticed a sequence of blue lights flashing on the control panel. He barely had enough time to leap out of the way before the air around him exploded with sound and his ceiling caved in on him.

***

Stumbling from the remains of his quarters, J'hon came up with a list of potential suspects. And the real irony there was that it was a very short list indeed, because up till then he'd been so good about taking out the competition. Still it was obvious now that he'd overlooked someone; he just couldn't figure out who it was or _why_ that person had chosen to move against him at this point in time.

Whoever it was, they were going to pay, he raged inwardly as he shook the dust off himself. He was going to make them regret the day they'd ever dared to challenge him.

Before that, though, he knew he needed to keep a low profile, to regroup and maybe take some more time to mull things over after the horrendous day he'd had. So he staggered off as fast as he could since he also knew that he had to leave in case his would-be assassin had any other surprises planned. But as he went round the corner, _keeping a low profile_ also went right out of the window because he came across possibly the last person he'd expected to meet.

"Oh!" Ro'dnee flinched, looking almost comically disappointed to see him.

"Yeah," J'hon muttered, echoing the sentiment. "Hey, so we've both had someone try to take us out today. What are the odds, huh?"

He kept posturing, trying not to appear too shaken, well aware that Ro'dnee was watching him from the other end of the hallway. And even though Ro'dnee still wore that same wide-eyed look of terror, he put it down to their previous encounter, and that Ro'dnee was bound to be a little skittish around people. Understandably so, given the recent attempt on his life.

Something J'hon found remarkably easy to relate to right then.

"You know, it's weird," he said, shaking his head. "The only people, who normally show up at an ambush, are the target and the assassin. Hell, if I didn't know better, I would think _you_ were the one, who just tried to destroy me."

Ro'dnee suddenly seemed to find something very interesting on the ground to study.

And J'hon had one of those Force-enhanced revelations, which left him reeling with the shock of having his universe turned upside down. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," he said under his breath. Because that was insane; the idea alone was so ridiculous he was struggling to get the words out. "No way would a _technosage_ have the balls for that," he managed to sputter in the end.

Ro'dnee's chin went up a little at the insult. Now there was absolutely no doubt in his mind that Ro'dnee was his would-be assassin.

" _You_ tried to destroy _me_?"

"Why not?" And Ro'dnee's chin went up even higher. "Where does it say that, just because I'm a technosage, I can't try too? Hmm?"

J'hon honestly didn't know what to say to that.

"You potentials think you're the only Acolytes with ambition," Ro'dnee went on, clearly on a roll now. "You're all the same. We help you and what do we get: nothing but attempted murder! Well, _I'm_ not ending up like Ridek with _my_ eyeballs hanging round Acolyte Weer's neck: let me tell you that!"

J'hon was about to go over there to emulate Weer's style when he realized Ro'dnee was still wearing that personal shield of his. It shimmered green in the light, mocking him in much the same way that Ro'dnee continued to mock him by berating every one of the Order's potentials.

In the end, the only thing he could do was to hold up both hands to stop the tirade. "Okay, Ro'dnee, fine," he snarled. "You want to go up against a potential, then be my guest! But don't think that shield of yours will stop me forever."

He watched Ro'dnee open his mouth again, saw those blue eyes narrow a fraction. And because he didn't want to get into a verbal pissing contest which, frankly, he wasn't sure he would win, he said: "Look, my place is a bit of a mess right now. So unless you want me moving in with you, I need to find somewhere else to live!"

After that, J'hon stalked off, so angry he could barely think straight. Once again, he'd underestimated Ro'dnee, only _this_ time he'd nearly been destroyed as a result. Right then, no amount of posturing could convince him that this wasn't a serious weakness on his part.

***

Later, after J'hon had calmed down and the shock of failure wasn't so fresh, he started thinking rationally about what had happened. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized just how compromising a position Ro'dnee had put him in. If the story _ever_ got out that a mere technosage had almost succeeded in destroying him, he was going to spend the rest of what would undoubtedly be a very short life fielding attacks from any and everyone.

The only sensible option he could see, under the circumstances, was to cover his tracks. Unless somehow he managed to destroy Ro'dnee before Ro'dnee had a chance to talk. Still with Ro'dnee's personal shield in place, a quick kill seemed very unlikely. So J'hon decided that the best way to handle the situation was to throw everyone around him off the scent by giving them something else to focus on.

He started by eliminating Mars Somnir, which was a bonus more than anything. As one of his first blademasters, Somnir had taken great pleasure in humiliating him during his early cycles on the Path. So J'hon took equal pleasure in breaking into Somnir's quarters that night and then crushing the life from his throat. Next, he swapped one of the crystals in Somnir's door panel with one from his own door, thus providing some hastily manufactured though nonetheless incontrovertible proof that Mars Somnir had been behind the attempt on his life.

From there, it was easy enough to convince his own master that this was all part of the Dark Lord Ha'Mund's move against him. Not that his master needed much convincing, though. With Somnir as Ha'Mund's Shadow Hand elect, and with Niele eager to take over Ha'Mund's command of the Council's security teams, he knew Niele was looking for any excuse to wipe Ha'Mund out.

By the end of week, Ha'Mund was gone and Niele was on the rise. And although J'hon was still a bit disturbed that he'd been forced down this path, he congratulated himself for accomplishing several things. Not the least of which were: averting a personal crisis of confidence with some good, hard kills; and, cementing his alliance with his master by helping his master move one step closer to the Council. Most importantly, though, he'd managed to deflect any rumour that Ro'dnee had come close to taking him out. Which, in turn, bought _him_ more time to come up with a way to deal with Ro'dnee once and for all.

***

Despite the successful cover up, J'hon couldn't shake the sense of unease caused by failing in the first place.

Working with Ro'dnee was a constant reminder of it, although there were definite perks to having a technosage of his own. Sometimes, when Ro'dnee huffed at him before presenting him with some innovative new tool, J'hon couldn't decide if he was annoyed or relieved that he hadn't managed to kill Ro'dnee. And soon he started to question whether there was some other, sub-conscious reason for that failure beyond sheer bad planning.

So, as a matter of principle, J'hon stepped up the number of attempts he made on Ro'dnee's life.

He stuck to explosives initially. Until he realized Ro'dnee was _using him_ to test shield modifications when he caught Ro'dnee one day taking power readings during an ambush. After that, he switched to Force manipulation and illusion. Which weren't exactly his areas of preference, but which were nonetheless time-honoured classics. Some attempts were more serious than others were; most were decidedly unsuccessful. But the one constant in all of them was that Ro'dnee seemed to find new ways to retaliate. Ways, which in turn frustrated him and brought out that grudging sense of admiration he always seemed to get around Ro'dnee.

Ironically, the closest he ever came to success was by accident.

It happened in Ro'dnee's lab. He was lounging by Ro'dnee's work station trying to be annoying or to just generally get in the way while Ro'dnee was trying equally hard to ignore him. After several minutes of this, J'hon brought out his sabre, which he'd damaged disembowelling a shape-shifting Ugor on Paradise 12. It turned out that Ro'dnee's physiology was severely averse to Ugorian spore-gruel. Which was all _this_ particular Ugor ate apparently. It also turned out that Ugorian spore scent molecules were small enough to permeate Ro'dnee's shield.

As the spores filled the air, J'hon sat there watching the pale shade of blue spread across Ro'dnee's face. He was so mesmerized by all the gasping Ro'dnee was doing that he forgot to seize the opportunity to strike Ro'dnee down when Ro'dnee dropped his shield to administer his anti-reagent. By the time he realized what was going on, Ro'dnee already had his shield back up and Ro'dnee was glaring at him whilst also still struggling to breathe.

"Oh, that's just great," Ro'dnee wheezed in between gasps and coughs. "So, you're on to _poison_ now?"

Alarmingly enough, J'hon heard himself say: "I didn't know you would react like that," before he bit his lip, trying not to seem defensive. Though he was and extremely so. Which made no sense to him at all since he'd been trying to kill Ro'dnee for months now.

"Huh!" Ro'dnee frowned at him, looking quite pensive all of a sudden and significantly less upset. "Well, in that case, I suppose I should thank-you for exposing a weakness in my shield," he admitted rather grudgingly. "Which I'll be fixing right now," he added very quickly. "So don't even think about trying to poison me again!"

"Fine," J'hon told him. He still felt rather defensive about the whole thing, and because he didn't want to end up saying something incredibly stupid, he manufactured an excuse to leave as soon as he could.

***

End of Part One  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, it takes Two to ascend

  
**Part Two**   


  
Things were never the same after that.

Although J'hon tried to keep up the pretence that he was fine, in reality he was deeply disturbed by the path his thoughts had taken while Ro'dnee had been gasping in front of him. Thoughts of Ro'dnee gasping for reasons other than panic. Which tended to ambush him now at very inappropriate times before following him into his dreams at night, where Ro'dnee's face was always sweating and flushed red instead of blue. Along with that earlier defensiveness, he began to worry that this was yet another sign of a potential breakdown on his part. To make matters worse, it was clear from the thoughtful looks Ro'dnee kept giving him that Ro'dnee had noticed some sort of change in his demeanour.

After several more failed attempts on each other's lives, they reached an understanding of sorts. _He_ didn't try to ambush Ro'dnee when Ro'dnee was genuinely busy working on something, while Ro'dnee no longer tried to sabotage him when he was on missions for his master. But through it all, J'hon could shake that roiling sense of unease that this was all just the start of a massive decline. And _that_ worried him far more than any specific failure to close things out where Ro'dnee was concerned.

***

The decline J'hon feared progressed in ways so subtle even _he_ had trouble noticing it.

Soon after his transition from Acolyte to Assassin, the Order began to suffer through a series of upheavals, which left none of its brethren unscathed. The Council moved swiftly to quell the growing number of separatist cabals. But the extensive nature of the culling and the reparations levied on survivors left a different kind of unrest, which festered in the lower ranks and which many a Dark Lord sought to exploit. Those with the means to do so expanded their interests to include minions from all walks of life; others simply formed alliances of intent, waiting for a new day to strike.

It was during this period that J'hon saw himself move from the enviable position of _potential on the rise_ to the slightly trickier region of _potential threat_. This change brought with it several repercussions, the most significant of which was that it set him on his Path of Estrangement from Lord Niele. In accordance with tradition, his master became more remote as _he_ grew in power, and the insights his master had previously provided grew even more remote with him. As a result, J'hon found that he _had_ to resort to more esoteric means for guidance in his continuing bid to ascend.

Increasingly, he turned toward obscure prophecies by Revenant, looking for something, which would give him that edge over his master. And he got so consumed by his search that the only time he didn't spend on missions or trawling through ancient texts was spent with the other constant in his life: M'Ro'dneeth Kay.

There things were even less clear. Because at some point over the cycle, his relationship with Ro'dnee had eased into an almost tolerant brand of co-existence. Whenever he tried to kill Ro'dnee now, it was more to stave off boredom or for the sheer amusement value of seeing how Ro'dnee would choose to retaliate. It also served the more practical purpose of keeping Ro'dnee on his toes since Ro'dnee, too, was close to ascending, so he'd come under the radar of other ambitious Acolytes. As loathe as J'hon was to admit it, especially to himself, the last thing he wanted was for anyone else to kill his technosage.

***

He hit rock-bottom one day when he walked into Ro'dnee's lab to find Ro'dnee there alone picking through the remains of one of his data pads. Ro'dnee barely looked at him at all, muttering, "Gall, oh I know this was _you_ , Gall," under his breath the whole time. And since J'hon had learned from experience that Ro'dnee was no use to him in this state, he decided to leave Ro'dnee alone with his fury and frustration.

It took him less than a day to find out exactly who this _Gall_ was and why he'd targeted Ro'dnee. It took him even less time to arrange the kind of slow, painful death, which would give _this_ technosage ample time to consider the error of his ways.

Later that evening, Gall was screaming in agony as Force conduits slowly sucked the life from his body. And as J'hon stood in the shadows watching, not once did it occur to him that perhaps he'd crossed a line here. He did an excellent job convincing himself that he was taking Gall out to keep Ro'dnee functioning with a clear mind and frankly because Ro'dnee was _his_ to kill in the first place.

***

Even though Ro'dnee was living up to his reputation as the best technosage in the Order, with the power and position Niele had secured, J'hon knew he would need something truly spectacular to have any chance of ascending.

He found it in the rambling tomes of the Learned Sun-Jeck.

Where Revenant's prophecies held vague references to a tool of unspeakable power, Sun-Jeck in _his_ writings spoke openly of the legendary star forge: _Atlantis_. A fusion of technology and dark side energy so vast even the Ancients, who built it, had tried to destroy it once they'd realized they couldn't control it.

At first, J'hon wasn't sure what to make of this. Because Atlantis was the stuff of myth, and Sun-Jeck himself had been so radical that the other Learneds of his day had discredited him as an agent of the Light before banishing him from the Order to walk among the stars. Ultimately, what swayed J'hon was that volumes of Sun-Jeck's teachings were recorded many cycles _after_ his initial banishment, hinting at his reconciliation with the Order. For the Learneds later embraced Sun-Jeck, who had returned from his travels a changed man, to the extent that they assigned over twenty scribes to capture his supposedly insane ramblings until the time of his death several millennia ago.

These latter texts were the teachings that J'hon followed.

He spent weeks scratching for clues hidden among those words, trying to piece together a trail to the whereabouts of Atlantis. Until one day he stumbled across a small, as yet overlooked passage, which spoke of the heart of darkness encased in a vast white sea. He knew it was tenuous at best, desperate at the worst, but his instincts pointed him toward Hoth: a desolate arctic planet on the far reaches of the outer rim.

So, when his master sent him on a mission to the Anoat sector, J'hon decided to take a small detour to the Hoth system to check it out first.

***

Hoth was as barren and as inhospitable as its reputation suggested. And were it not for the dark presence J'hon sensed on landing, he would have abandoned the planet at once.

The darkness called out to him, faint in its song but pure. So pure that J'hon had never heard anything like it before. He let it lead him on a trek that covered miles of ice and snow, following its call relentlessly, feeling it grow stronger with each step he took toward it.

The trail ended in a cave, where he found the remains of what looked like a command console buried under a sheet of ice. He dug it out, feeling compelled to touch it, to bond with it; and when the tips of fingers finally scratched along its surface, the world around him lit up with a knowledge so vast his eyes went white with it.

For a long time after that, all J'hon could see were images of crystal spires and stealth ships and star drives set in a darkness so profound it nearly tore his mind apart.

***

He felt like he was floating, carried on currents of Force, which seemed to cushion him even as they drove him forward. Underneath him, the sea was white, stretching out for miles, but he wasn't interested in any of that because, all of a sudden, Ro'dnee was hovering beside him.

"Hey, Ro'dnee," he croaked. When Ro'dnee waved a hand in front of his face, he waved right back at him, not finding anything remotely strange about Ro'dnee being there, apart from the way Ro'dnee was bundled up in about fifty layers of clothing. It wasn't how his dreams with Ro'dnee usually went. So he smiled at Ro'dnee before suggesting, "You should probably take your clothes off," trying to be smooth about it.

Ro'dnee screamed something at him, which got lost under the howl of the wind, but which, from the expression on Ro'dnee's face, told him Ro'dnee wasn't very keen on that idea.

"Okay, fine," J'hon grumbled, though he wasn't too worried about the rejection. He knew his dream would get there in the end; they always did. While waiting for that to happen, he decided to change the subject and he said, "Hey, guess what: I found her!"

Ro'dnee's yell of: "What?" came through loud and clear this time.

"She just opened for me," he went on. "She said knew I was coming and that she'd been waiting for a long time. I think she wants me to take her home, to make her whole again." Even as he spoke, he could sense her on the edges of his mind, calling out to him, promising to make all his darkest dreams come true. "We have to go back," he whispered.

" _What_?" Ro'dnee yelled again.

"We have to go back for her!" J'hon started struggling in earnest to do just that. "Don't you get it? Atlantis is the key," J'hon suddenly felt compelled to explain, because he needed Ro'dnee with him on this. It was suddenly vitally important for Ro'dnee to understand; he just couldn't remember why. "The Ancients thought they'd found a way to destroy her, but they failed," he told him regardless. "They broke her into pieces, and what they couldn't burn they hid on different planets. But she's still alive, Ro'dnee, and she can help us ascend above _anyone_ , who"

Ro'dnee waved a hand in front of his face again.

And J'hon felt himself drifting as he followed the Force suggestion into sleep.

***

The next time he woke up, he was considerably more lucid, and Ro'dnee was leaning over him, face set in something that looked almost like concern. They were on his _Infiltrator_. Ro'dnee had one hand on his chest, but the minute he opened his eyes, Ro'dnee drew back and started tinkering with something while he lay there under a pile of thermals.

"Hey," he whispered, trying to get Ro'dnee's attention.

"Oh, at last he speaks," Ro'dnee muttered, obviously trying to cover his relief with exasperation but failing miserably.

J'hon didn't know quite what to make of that. It was clear he had a lot of catching up to do. He went for what he thought was a neutral topic and he asked, "How did you find me?" Because he sure as hell hadn't told anyone about his plans to visit Hoth.

"Well, with you trying to kill me all the time, I'm getting quite good at all this cloak and sabre stuff."

"Really?" J'hon drawled. He'd noticed this, of course. But over the cycles, he'd developed an inexplicable enjoyment in watching Ro'dnee brag or, at the very least, in winding him up. "So, you think you're good at this now?"

"Of course I am!" Ro'dnee scowled at him. Then Ro'dnee admitted: "Okay, that last sabre crystal I gave you emits a low level sub-space signal. It was easy enough to track you with that when you didn't come back from your mission. And a good thing too, otherwise who knows how long you would have been stuck on this Light-spawn planet."

J'hon stared at him incredulously. "I didn't come back, so you came all the way out here to find me?" Still struggling to wrap his mind around that, he chose to ignore, for the moment, that Ro'dnee had effectively _tagged_ him!

"We had an appointment," Ro'dnee explained, quite defensive all of a sudden. "Which you missed, by the way," as though that were reason enough. "And since we've fallen into the habit of trying to kill each other, I decided to track you down. Because, you know, it was my turn to try to kill you."

It hit him then that despite Ro'dnee's blustering, when he'd gone missing, Ro'dnee had dropped whatever he was doing to come looking for him. And that triggered a rush of emotion in him so intense it made his chest suddenly feel very tight. "So why didn't you do it when you had the chance?" he whispered. "You could have destroyed me so many times when I was weak!"

"Please, are you trying to insult me?" Ro'dnee huffed. " _When_ I destroy you, it'll be one hundred per cent _me_ and not because someone else softened you up first."

Ro'dnee drew back then, looking vaguely uncomfortable. And things between them suddenly got very awkward, with neither one of them saying anything for a while.

For his part, J'hon didn't know what this meant for their already complicated relationship. He knew that somehow they'd crossed a line, but where it was taking them he couldn't tell. He spent a lot of time thinking about that, struggling with that faint sense of hysteria, which threatened whenever he tried to give a name to whatever was going on between them.

Until Ro'dnee drew him back to reality by pointing at the flight console, saying, "By the way, that thing has been flashing for at least two days."

At which point J'hon went from mild hysteria to near panic, because that _thing_ , as Ro'dnee called it, only flashed when his master wanted him to report back. He imagined that, right then, several days overdue and mission incomplete, his master probably wasn't very pleased with him.

***

The conversation with his master began about as well as could be expected.

"Hey, J'hon," Niele said cheerfully. "So you really screwed up on this one, huh?" Before J'hon could say anything, Niele suggested: "Why don't we talk about it when you get back!"

Which J'hon knew actually meant: ' _You'd better have a fucking good explanation for this!_ '

He decided to go with the equally cheerful: "Sounds like a plan," before taking a deep breath, watching the holo-projection of his master flicker a little. "It might take a few days, though," he added, trying to buy himself some time. "My _Infiltrator_ got singed in an ion storm. I've got my technosage here with me now working on repairs."

"Ah, yes, the great M'Ro'dneeth Kay!" Niele pursed his lips, looking almost thoughtful. "Well, then, you kids take all the time you need," Niele told him, making one of those expansive gestures with his hands.

And J'hon closed his eyes for a second, because this was bad; this was far worse than he'd originally feared. "We'll be back as soon as we can," he promised.

He was about to terminate the connection when Niele said: "Oh, I almost forgot!"

J'hon leaned back, heart in this throat.

"I'm having a small ceremony tomorrow evening," Niele continued. "Nothing too fancy, I know how you hate that. Just, with the recent and unfortunate demise of Lord Dree Lan, it seemed like as good a time as any to mark my ascension to the Council." Niele gave a smile that chilled him to his bones. "It would be nice if you were here for that," he added very softly.

"I'm honoured you even thought to include me, my Lord," J'hon whispered, doing everything he could right then to shield his emotions. "Where are you having this ceremony, by the way?"

"In the Temple of Ages."

"Nice choice," he murmured.

"I thought so too," Niele told him. "You know how I like to do these things properly. Just call me a stickler for tradition!" At which point, Niele chuckled for several seconds.

J'hon decided the smart thing to do was to laugh along with him.

"Oh, well," Niele said after a while, when he'd obviously grown tired of the games. "As nice as it always is to catch up, I really need to get going. See you soon, J'hon!" Then Niele waved him off before terminating the connection from his end.

J'hon leaned back even further, breathing hard, watching Ro'dnee stare at him with those wide blue eyes.

"He's going to kill you," Ro'dnee whispered.

And J'hon just nodded, knowing he had no other choice but to move up his own plans to ascend.

***

Halfway through Ro'dnee's second rant, it occurred to him that, while he and Ro'dnee had spent cycles trying to destroy each other, they'd never really had a serious argument until then.

"But I'm not ready," Ro'dnee kept telling him. "I mean, you're not ready. Look at you! A Force-blind swamp rat could probably take you out in the state you're in. Plus, I haven't finished the sabre enhancements, or the Force pikes, not to mention the—"

"Ro'dnee," J'hon interrupted him before he could really get going. "It's okay; just forget about that now."

"He's going to kill you! How can you say that?"

"Because it's my rite of passage, Ro'dnee!" He shrugged then with a lightness he didn't feel. "I _want_ to ascend, and Niele knows that. He has been _expecting_ me to make a move on him for some time now. I guess he just got tired of waiting."

"Well, I still think meeting him on _his_ terms is stupid," Ro'dnee complained, folding both arms across his chest.

Again, J'hon found himself struggling with that rush of emotion, which seemed to twist something inside him, leaving his chest feeling tight. It hit him then that he was going to miss all of this: the conversations, the insults, the endless assassination attempts. Even though they'd made him weak somehow and vulnerable enough for his master to smell the stench of failure on his skin. And despite knowing he was breaking all kinds of protocol by doing this, he still went on to say: "You do know if he succeeds he's going to come after you, right?"

Ro'dnee gulped before nodding, managing somehow to look annoyed about the whole thing.

"Good!" J'hon smiled a little easier after that. "Then you'll be ready for him," he said very softly, feeling what was definitely a surge of dark pleasure flowing through him. If he failed, he _knew_ Ro'dnee would take Niele and the rest of his minions out, and they would never see it coming.

Ro'dnee gave him another annoyed looking glare. "We could"

"No," J'hon cut in, not letting Ro'dnee say the words. "I'm a potential; I'm not going to run. This is _my_ final trial. Either I ascend or I fall; that _is_ the Sith way."

With that, he turned away to prepare for what would likely be the toughest battle of his life.

***

The Temple was the holiest of all grounds, for etched in her walls were the names of the ancestral dark. They were the ascended of all starters through the Ages: those, who had destroyed their peers to rise above them to glory. And by that virtue, those, who had earned the right to be called the darkest of all Sith.

Following ancient custom, J'hon walked in alone to take his place among them. He realized this was a fitting place to make his last stand, and a last stand he feared it might be. On any other day, he might have stood a chance. Today, however, with so much of his energy drained on Hoth, he had a feeling his destruction was inevitable.

When Niele strolled in with a retinue of guards, J'hon also realized that he'd been a fool. There were ten in total, all of them brash, Force-blind and obviously expendable. And it immediately became clear that his master's strategy was to tire him out first before moving in for the kill. "Now, this isn't very _traditional_ of you," he complained before slicing the head off guard number one.

Niele just shrugged from the sidelines. "What can I say? I thought you might appreciate the workout!"

J'hon laughed mirthlessly. He knew that his master would also be watching his sabre technique, looking for areas to exploit. So he dealt with the second and third guards in the same crisp way in which he'd dealt with the first. Guards four, five and six gave him a few problems, because they decided to attack in formation. But ultimately they were no match for his years of training, and he struck them down using a complicated sequence of aerial moves. After that, he took out guard number seven with relative ease, but the eighth one was a real challenge because what there was of his strength had already started to wane. By the ninth he could barely stand, and on the tenth, it took all his will to complete the job.

Which, of course, was when his master chose to step in.

"Okay, then," Niele said brightly. "Let's move on to the main event, shall we?"

Then J'hon watched in horror as bolts of Force lightening shot from Niele's fingers. He couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way. And the next thing he knew he was on the ground clutching at his chest and writhing in agony while Niele stood over him, taunting him.

"Bet you didn't know I could do _that_ , huh?" After which Niele hit him a few more times just for the hell of it. "You disappoint me, J'hon! I thought you would be more of a challenge."

"Come back tomorrow and I'm sure I'll do better," J'hon managed to wheeze out.

Only, Niele powered up his own sabre, evidently done with talking.

J'hon glared up at him, defiant to the last, watching that glowing blade descend, and ultimately watching it grind to a halt in a burst of green sparks mere inches from his face. He started laughing then, the sound so loud he almost didn't hear Niele's howl of frustration. But he _did_ see Niele drop his guard for a second when Niele glanced round for the source of that shield barrier.

That was more than enough time for J'hon to strike him down, slicing first through the knees before reaching out with all he'd learnt of the Force to drain the last of his master's dark energy.

***

In the aftermath, J'hon stood over his master's desiccated corpse, revelling in the power of his ascension. Until he heard a familiar voice say: "Oh my God, I can't believe it worked!"

Turning round, he saw Ro'dnee emerge from behind one of the pillars nearby.

"I mean, I knew it was possible in theory," Ro'dnee went on. "But I had no idea I could extend a shield layer that far and _still_ make it viable." Ro'dnee paused for a second, taking a deep breath. After which Ro'dnee suddenly seemed to _notice_ all the carnage. He backed up a little, saying, "You know what, I think I left something on in the lab. I should probably go check on that," before making a run for it.

J'hon caught up with him by the doors to the vestry. "I thought we'd agreed I was going to handle this on my own," he murmured.

"Well, it's a good thing I don't listen to stupid ideas, isn't it?" Ro'dnee snapped, looking a bit guilty but sounding absolutely unrepentant.

J'hon couldn't decide whether _he_ was annoyed or relieved about that. Which seemed to be the normal state of affairs where Ro'dnee was concerned. He reached out, aching to touch Ro'dnee all of a sudden, wanting to convey something of what he was feeling right then, only to get stung yet again by that personal shield. "Ro'dnee," he chided him gently.

"What?"

"Why don't you take down your shield."

" _What_?" Ro'dnee gasped. "Are you insane?"

Beyond a few vague scriptures, J'hon thought he just might be. There was no precedent for what he was about to propose. Still his instincts were screaming at him that this was right, that this was _the way_ , and that all the supposed failures of the past had just been leading him to this moment. "Join me," he whispered. "Together we can restore the Sith to glory."

Ro'dnee gaped at him as though he'd completely lost his mind. "You and me as Master and Apprentice: _that's_ what you want?"

J'hon shook his head. "We have to be more than that to succeed," he explained, trying to make Ro'dnee understand. "We can be so much more if we choose," he added, wanting that too. Because he could see now just how close Bane had been to True Ascension. But unlike him, his ancestor hadn't realized that the Two needed to be above the usual infighting to have any chance of success. Staring down at Ro'dnee, thinking about how Ro'dnee had stood by him and even saved his life, he didn't need Force urgings to convince him that the future lay right here in the hands of this man. "Take your shield down and join me," he said one more time, stretching out his hand.

Ro'dnee kept glancing at it warily. "You could kill me," he whispered. "How do I know you _won't_ kill me the second I take it down?"

"You don't." And that was the crux of it: the first step, the one Ro'dnee had to take all by himself. J'hon refused to make it any easier than that.

The minutes he spent waiting for Ro'dnee to decide were the longest of his life. Ro'dnee kept giving him looks, which swung from terror to confusion to suspicion and irritation before swinging back to terror all over again. And through it all, J'hon stood there with his hand out-stretched, willing Ro'dnee to accept him.

He was seconds away from switching to more drastic measures when Ro'dnee muttered, "If you kill me, I swear I _will_ haunt you for the rest of your life," before powering down his shield.

J'hon didn't waste a moment after that. He grabbed Ro'dnee's head in both hands and then he pushed hard with his mind, showing Ro'dnee all his dark plans, letting him see everything he wanted for the two of them.

" _Oh_!" Ro'dnee smiled when he got it at last. "That—That's _perfect_!"

"Yes," J'hon agreed with a dark smile of his own. He could see the wonder in Ro'dnee's eyes at his idea for their New Rule of Two. Not Master and Apprentice, but Two equals united in one goal: to ascend until no other Sith breathed in the galaxy and until all dark power was concentrated in their hands. The Light would be no match for them.

"We have to go back to Hoth," Ro'dnee whispered all of a sudden.

And again J'hon said, "Yes," seeing his plans begin to take shape. Somehow he'd known Ro'dnee would understand; they weren't strong enough yet to do this on their own. "Do you think you can fix her?"

Still grinning, Ro'dnee responded with: "Of course I can!"

And J'hon literally bared his teeth, almost drunk with the possibility of all that power. He'd expected Ro'dnee to say that. Only Ro'dnee had the strength to tame Atlantis, and he knew that for _him_ Ro'dnee would find a way to bend her to their will. "We'll destroy them all, Ro'dnee," he promised, stroking his thumb along the curve of Ro'dnee's smile, watching the way Ro'dnee shivered before leaning into his touch.

"I know," Ro'dnee murmured, flicking his tongue out to taste him, making _him_ shiver from head to toe. "We'll purge every trace of Light from this galaxy."

J'hon _had_ to kiss Ro'dnee then. He had to lean forward, just for a moment, to catch the corner of Ro'dnee's mouth with his, before that flood of feeling had him bending down to Ro'dnee's neck and pressing his face there. He stayed like that for several seconds, breathing Ro'dnee in, trying to stifle the needy sounds that were clawing their way out of his throat. But once Ro'dnee drew him into _his_ mind, showing him a darkness there too beautiful to be imagined, the moans just poured out of him openly now.

It was Ro'dnee, who forged the bond between them, and Ro'dnee, who later still curled a hand into his hair, gripping it gently, using that grip to tilt his head back.

"Ro'dnee," J'hon whispered, knowing what Ro'dnee wanted.

So he arched up to meet him halfway, while Ro'dnee sighed, "Yes," before fitting their mouths together.

J'hon opened for him at once, swamped by feelings of lust so intense he could barely handle them. He took control of the kiss, licking into Ro'dnee's mouth, tangling their tongues together, tasting Ro'dnee again and again as the power of their bond sang between them. And once he'd allowed those feelings free rein, the want raged inside him. So fiercely that when Ro'dnee wrenched his mouth away all of a sudden, panting raggedly and turning his head to one side, it spilled over into dominance, making him surge forward to keep Ro'dnee there.

"I want you," J'hon growled, nearly overwhelmed by it. " _Now_ , Ro'dnee," he insisted, mouthing along Ro'dnee's jaw and biting at his throat. "Now," he said again, tearing at Ro'dnee's clothes, trying to get even closer.

"Okay, okay, just let me—" and then Ro'dnee floated something up to him. "Here, you can use this!"

J'hon snatched it out of the air, not paying too much attention to what it was, just knowing that it was slick and _there_ and that it would have to do. Because he couldn't wait any more; he was already so close, he _had_ to be in Ro'dnee right then.

He spun Ro'dnee around so that Ro'dnee was facing the wall. And Ro'dnee seemed to get that he was right on the edge. Because Ro'dnee just stretched both arms out to brace himself, saying nothing about his loss of control or about the lack of finesse with which he tugged their leggings down and then slicked himself up. As he pushed into Ro'dnee's body, Ro'dnee arched back to meet him, urging him on and whispering, "Yes, _yes_ ," while echoing lust and possessiveness back along their bond.

After that, J'hon really _did_ lose it. He hunched over, pushed in as deep as he could go and pressed his forehead to Ro'dnee's nape. Then he was there, shuddering and grunting, gripping Ro'dnee's waist with both hands as he struggled to stay on his feet.

He wasn't surprised when Ro'dnee bucked him off almost immediately afterward, or when Ro'dnee turned around and then shoved _him_ back against the wall. No, the surprise was that he wanted _this_ too; he was aching for it, still hard and still desperate as if he hadn't come only seconds earlier.

Ro'dnee, though, was even more desperate than he was, practically tearing at his leggings to get them all the way off him. So he let Ro'dnee take what he needed, spreading his legs, letting Ro'dnee reach down and up behind him. Then Ro'dnee slid two fingers into him, getting him ready, rubbing over something that made his knees buckle from the sheer weight of pleasure that crashed onto him.

"It's okay, I've got you," Ro'dnee told him, catching him, pushing him back up against the wall. And J'hon wasn't sure which one of them was more surprised by the broken sound he made when Ro'dnee rubbed over that spot again.

" _Ro'dnee_ ," J'hon groaned, almost frantic now.

Only, Ro'dnee whispered, "Not yet," seeming suddenly to want to slow things down. And Ro'dnee kept rubbing his fingers inside him, keeping to that hard, slow rhythm, telling him: "Soon, J'hon, soon," when he broke and started begging very softly under his breath.

By the time Ro'dnee eased out of him, his thighs were trembling, his skin dripping with sweat, and he was chewing at the cloth covering Ro'dnee's shoulder, trying not to scream. He was so wrecked he barely understood what was happening as Ro'dnee moved him into position, lifting him up with Force-enhanced strength and wrapping both legs around his waist. Until Ro'dnee started pressing into him, slowly working his way inside, stretching him to the point of discomfort.

"Oh _God_ ," J'hon whispered, writhing through the burn. And as Ro'dnee slid in even further, he clutched at Ro'dnee's back, trying to hold on.

"That's it," Ro'dnee breathed in his ear, before Ro'dnee cupped one hand over his nape, soothing him, holding him there so he _had_ to take it, so Ro'dnee could get all the way inside him. "Okay?" Ro'dnee asked a few moments later, after planting his feet and slowly circling his hips.

"Yes!" J'hon nodded, feeling the pleasure roll through him again, feeling it start from where Ro'dnee kept shifting inside him. "Yes, it's good," he managed to gasp.

Ro'dnee ground up into him hard, circling his hips again at the end of it. And before J'hon could stop himself he let out a loud sob of pleasure. "There?" Ro'dnee whispered, doing it again.

And this time, as the waves of heat and pleasure crashed over him, J'hon started clawing at Ro'dnee's back, panting, "Ro'dnee, _please_ — _I can't_ —" Because suddenly it was too much and the pleasure was destroying him like nothing else ever had.

But Ro'dnee just kept on moving inside him and Ro'dnee's hands held him there as Ro'dnee told him: "Yes, you _can_ ," rocking his hips up hard, grinding even harder, again and again.

So the only thing J'hon could do was try to ride it out, feeling the heat curl through him in waves, rising up from his stomach, flushing his chest and his face, leaking from his mouth in broken sobs. And when Ro'dnee eventually finished inside him, mouth open and trembling in the hollow of his throat, all of a sudden J'hon was there again, trembling just as hard, soaking the space between their bodies where Ro'dnee was pressed up against him.

***

He lost track of time for a while after that.

At some point, Ro'dnee set his legs back down on the ground. Not that it made much difference to him; he was still shaking so badly he could barely stand. He decided to use Ro'dnee to prop himself up, trying and failing not to smile at the intensely aggrieved sounds Ro'dnee made when he did that since the fingers combing gently through his hair gave away how Ro'dnee really felt.

"We should get out of here," Ro'dnee told him, still stroking his hair idly, like there was no real need to hurry.

J'hon nodded in any case. If the Force disturbance caused by the death of a Dark Lord hadn't shaken the Brotherhood, then the birth of a dark bond surely would have.

He said, "Let's take Niele's ship—well, technically, it's _ours_ now." And he didn't need to see Ro'dnee's face to know that Ro'dnee was smirking with their shared triumph. "Anyway, it's Cruiser class, so we can take my _Infiltrator_ and anything else you want."

"Good!" Ro'dnee stroked a thumb over the tip of his ear, making him shiver a little. "I'll need everything from the lab and a few things from my quarters as well."

"That's fine, I'll help you pack it all up!"

J'hon drew back then. He started pulling his clothes to order, watching Ro'dnee do the same. Finally, when they were both ready, they walked out of the Temple together and side by side.

  
The End.  


 **Additional Notes:** The following themes or ideas were borrowed from the Star Wars expanded universe, and in a few cases these have been altered to fit the purposes of this story:

01\. **The Academy** \- established by the Brotherhood to train Sith Acolytes  
02\. **Acolyte** \- a rank of the Sith order, usually given to a Force-sensitive in training on the dark path  
03\. **The Anoat Sector** \- a sector of space on the outer rim of the galaxy  
04\. **Assassin** \- a sect or rank of covert Force-sensitive killers  
05\. **Blademaster** \- a lightsaber combat instructor at the Sith Academy  
06\. **The Brotherhood** \- a.k.a. the Brotherhood of Darkness: the mass collection of Sith Lords and their followers  
07\. **The Council** \- the body of advisors to the ruling Dark Lord of the Sith  
08\. **Dark Lord** \- a powerful master of Sith knowledge  
09\. **The Force** \- a metaphysical power or energy created by all living beings, where the light side and dark side refer to the moral compass of its manifestation, i.e. good and evil  
10\. **Galactic Standard** \- the most common and most used language in the galaxy  
11\. **Hoth** \- an ice-covered planet located in the Anoat sector  
12\. **Infiltrator** \- a type of space ship  
13\. **The Republic** (First and Second) - the system of democratic government for the galaxy that lasted for thousands of years  
14\. **Rule by the Strong** \- a guiding principle that allowed for a number of Sith at one time (advocated by Lord Kaan)  
15\. **Rule of Two** \- a guiding principle that promoted only two Sith in the galaxy: a Master and an Apprentice (advocated by Darth Bane and used to great effect by the Emperor Palpatine a.k.a. Darth Sidious to bring about the destruction of the Republic)  
16\. **Ruusanian bat** \- non-sentient species indigenous to the planet Ruusan  
17\. **Sabacc** \- a high stakes card game similar to Poker  
18\. **Sabre** \- a.k.a. Lightsaber: the formal weapon of a Jedi Knight though also used by the Sith  
19\. **Shadow Hand** \- a title given to the second in command of a Sith Master or Sith Lord  
20\. **Sith** \- a sect of dark side Force users bent on destroying the Jedi, users of the light side of the Force  
21\. **Star Forge** \- a semi-sentient space station and an immense tool of dark side power  
22\. **Ugor** \- a unicellular sentient species capable of shape-shifting and native to the Paradise system of planets  
23\. **Ugorian Spore Gruel** \- a type of food enjoyed by Ugors

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [For Better or For Worse - a.k.a. The Bunny Boiler Episode](https://archiveofourown.org/works/152744) by [Soraya (soraya2004)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soraya2004/pseuds/Soraya), [soraya2004](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soraya2004/pseuds/soraya2004)




End file.
